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| StudyMap of John 3 - original here |
John 3:16
For God so love the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)
Car Dieu a tant aimé le monde qu’il a donné son Fils unique, afin que quiconque croit en lui ne périsse pas, mais qu’il aie la vie éternelle. (French, Colombe)
Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλʼ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον. (Greek, original text)
Lord Jesus, you teach us to seek so that we find. Although this is the most well known verse in the New Testament, I want to seek in your presence the meaning of this verse, and receive your answer.
Response received (with parentheses added by me, to link to biblical texts):
God is love, and the Father has always expressed love in this world. I came to remind people of this simple truth. Yet, not many hear it. I came to offer my life as a sacrifice, but this verse is not first about that, it is about the Father’s love, the Father who sent me. I did agree wholeheartedly with the Father’s plan of love for humanity, I did embrace every word and gesture the Father asked me do say or do. Yet, if I was able to communicate love in this world, don’t forget that this love was coming from the Father.
This verse speaks about the tender love of the Father, my Father and your Father. He gave what was the most precious to him, his Son, and accepted the fact that I would be humiliated and killed, His beloved and only Son, so that many could be adopted in our family. This verse speaks about the powerful love of the Father, His love for me and his love for all those who believe in me.
People cannot deliver themselves from sin and death, they need our help. First and foremost, it is because eternal life is communion with the giver of life, God. You cannot have eternal life by yourself. Eternal life is union with the Father through me, eternal life is about receiving our love and responding to this love. (see John 17:3)
The one who believes in me, who trusts in me, will accept me as their guide, their shepherd. If you believe in me I will guide you. First, most will start by learning key lessons that I taught in the Gospels or that I spoke to the Apostles in the letters of the New Testament. Then, they are invited to a personal relationship with me, to welcome me as their Lord and Savior. This relationship is not only a strong emotional moment, but has to become a lifestyle, a pattern of life.
To believe in me implies listening to me and doing what I show you, like for a sheep with his shepherd (John 10:27). In your world, many people confuse believing in me and believing things about me. To believe things about me is a mere intellectual assent. To believe in me is a matter of the heart and mind, a learning of intimacy with me, a willingness to let me guide. Believing in me implies trusting me. To trust me implies that you do what I show you, either what you see written in the Gospels or what I tell you during your days as you learn to listen to me. It is not those who say to me Lord, Lord, who will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father (Mt 7:21). I came on earth to show clearly the will of the Father, his actions and his words. I became obedient even up to the humiliation of the cross, so that the veil that was hiding the Father’s love from humanity could be torn from top to bottom (see Phil 2:5-11).
Some people, even when they call themselves Christian, still have this veil of darkness in their heart. They are much afraid to really do what the Father wants them to do, what I show to them. They are afraid of losing the control of their life, yet it is a key step on the path of love (see Mt 16:24-26). Well, that is one of the fears that the devil spreads in people’s hearts, in order to keep them in slavery (see Heb 2:14-15). The reality is that the Father is much more loving than many imagine. I did all I could to show that, calling my dear Father sometimes “daddy” (the meaning of the word ‘abba’ in aramaic, see Mark 14:36 for instance, or Romans 8:15). I healed many, to show that daddy really loves people and wants their good. Many accuse daddy of being a distant father, a harsh father, yet they don’t come to him and don’t even know him. They take all the problems of the world and accuse him of causing them, when they are often one of the sources of these very problems. I did not come to judge but to save, to help people stop pointing fingers at each others or to God and help them recognize that love is missing in their hearts (see John 3:17). Many people claim to know what love is, yet who knows love better than the one who created the universe, the perfect father, my daddy and your heavenly daddy?
If you are tired of the world, if you are tired of your efforts to be a good person by your own strength, if you are tired of trying to be religious, I invite you to come to me and to welcome my love. Turn away from all that you know as evil (see Mark 1:15). Welcome me as your guide and savior. Just ask the Holy Spirit to come into your heart, because daddy is such a good father that He gives it to all those who ask him (Luke 11:13). With the Holy Spirit, you will receive our love (Romans 5:5). You will then be invited to learn from me and follow me, to put into practice what I have taught for centuries, this loving relationship with the Father, this love for your neighbor, this living trust that sows miracles of love in your heart and around you. My guidance is not painful but joyful, you will see that it is not a heavy yoke (see Mt 11:28-30). You will then welcome the burden of our love for your world, and will rejoice in spreading this love around you, even when people don’t respond to it (see John 15:20-21).
You will learn to live as part of our family, with many new brothers and sisters on earth, my church, and see how I can renew fellowship and community on earth. In the love that you will have for your brothers and sisters on earth, people will see my love, people will recognize divine love and will believe that daddy really sent me to the world to deliver from darkness and death (see John 17:21). I am the light of the world, shining with the Father’s love, daddy’s love, so that many will not perish but have eternal life.
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